The expansion of the Terrance B Lettsome International Airport is on the priority list of the newly installed BVI Airports Authority Board.
This is according to the Minister responsible for the BVI Airports Authority Honourable Kye Rymer who made the statement recently.
He said he had a favourable discussion with the Board and expressed he was pleased with the outcome of their first meeting in presenting the government’s mandate.
“I was able to have a good meeting with my newly formed board yesterday, the BVI Airports Authority Board led by Theo Burke and the mandate was given that this is the direction that the board needs to be taking the airport into where we are speaking about increase airlift and expansion of the runway. What we have is over the years we have done quite a lot of consultancies and had various drawings and so forth in terms of the expansion,” he said.
“So I don’t think that we need to recreate the wheel. And I know the premier can confirm that we have some investors that are ready to come in and assist with certain parts of the expansion. So we are eager to get started in terms of making sure that the runway extension is a priority,” he added.
Rymer, who is also the Deputy Premier said he has been in touch with a number of international airlines to see what relationships can be formed to benefit the territory.
He said, “What I know is during my short time I have been reaching out to various airlines in terms of increasing airlift in the territory. You would have seen, I think about a month back, we were able to land an Embraer 190, that plane is able to take direct flights from Tortola direct to the mainland, Miami and the eastern seaboard. So we have been working with that agency in terms of trying to cement that relationship to have increased airlift and have a direct flight to the US as well.”
As it pertains to the adjacent land to the Beef Island airport, Rymer said the new Board will be assessing the plans of the previous Board to determine the latest developments on the matter.